


Give Me All the Caffeine

by strawberrylace



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Meet-Cute, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 11:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18637123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylace/pseuds/strawberrylace
Summary: Bucky needs all of the caffeine he needs to make it through this finals week.Based on the prompt: "I'm a barista at a 24 hour coffee shop and you just came in with a bucket and asked me to fill it with coffee...you okay?"





	Give Me All the Caffeine

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, I saw Endgame and like pretty much everybody else, I don't know if I'll recover from it. So I wrote this coffee shop AU to kind of help with it!

The week before finals week was typically when all hell broke loose. Steve was starting to see more and more people come into Peggy's Coffee Shop at all hours of the day. He was starting to get good with being able to tell how stressed out the customers were about finals. For instance, there was Natasha, an accounting major who normally came in every other day for a small London Fog. This week, she was coming in every day for a medium London Fog. Then there was his friend Tony, a physics major who practically lived on his medium black coffees as his usual order. Now it was a large black coffee and Steve would catch glances of Tony adding Splenda to his drink. Bruce, another physics major that came in the coffee shop with Tony, normally ordered a large caramel latte. Yesterday he ordered two, just for good measure.He wondered how much caffeine these students were living on. He wasn't a med student, but even with all this time that he had spent as a barista, he knew it couldn't be good for their health. He also worried about their mental state. Sometimes, he just wanted to give his customers a blanket and tell them all to go take a nap, for they were all worrying over nothing. But then again, what did he really know about them? How much can you tell about a person based on what they drink? 

It was 11 at night on a Sunday, the official start of finals week. Steve's manager had put him on the late shift this evening, not that it was any issue. Steve didn't have his first exam until Tuesday morning. It had been moderately busy within the first hour, but now there was a bit of a lull. He figured that the usual customers had been migrating to the library or the Caribou Coffee next to the student center, as those places were now open 24 hours for finals week. His roommate, Sam, was probably going to be spending the night at the library. Steve promised to bring him a scone and a mocha when he was finished with his shift. Did he have stiff competition now that those places were open all day? Perhaps, but Steve had nothing to worry about when it came to the loyal customers that came in. The usual suspects always manage to come back.

An hour had past and no one else had come in. Steve was reading his Rembrandt text book for his art history class, but couldn't focus properly as he looked out the door to see if anyone would come in. It was going to be a long night before his manager came in to take over. The struggle to stay awake was real. Just as he was about to nod off, he heard the bell ring. A young guy with longish brown hair, dressed in a loose fitting black tee and dark blue sweat pants walked into the coffee shop. Steve had seen him before, but not at night. He typically came in around noon by himself and his order was constantly changing. Sometimes he ordered a chai latte with an orange cranberry scone. Other times he'd order a vanilla cappuccino with a blueberry muffin. He never properly took his order but he liked to observe him, wondering what his story was. Out of all the people that came into Peggy's, this guy was the one who piqued his interest the most. Of course, it had to be the guy that he knew absolutely nothing about. Tonight he looked absolutely spent, clutching his computer bag and booked underneath one arm. He appeared to be holding something else and Steve could've sworn it was a bucket.

"Good Evening," Steve cleared his throat. "Sorry, you're the first person I've seen in my shift. What can I get for you?" 

The young guy didn't say anything. Instead, he set the plastic bucket in front of Steve's face. 

"I'm gonna need all of the caffeine that I need," he said, pointing to the bucket, "So here's what I want. I want coffee, straight black coffee, and I want it in this bucket. I don't want you to stop filling until it's been filled all the way to the top."

Steve had customers make some odd requests before. He once had to make coffee for a dog but this was by far the oddest request that a customer has ever made. 

"Um, sir?" Steve asked. 

"It's Bucky," he replied. 

"Bucky," Steve set the bucket aside and leaned over from the cash register. "Are you feeling okay? You look like you haven't been sleeping."

Bucky set his head down next to the bucket and groaned loudly. "I think my head is about to explode from all this information that I've been cramming in this weekend." 

"You've been up all weekend? Like no, sleep whatsoever?" 

"I think I've gotten maybe six hours of sleep this weekend?" Bucky guessed. "But that's debatable, given how much time I've spent studying for my European history class. I mean, I have my elective classes, sure but those are nothing compared to what I'm probably going to have to write on Operation Barbarossa and that whole invasion of the Soviet Union. I mean, are you aware of the great ramifications that World War I had on European politics? It's mad I tell you! The League of Nations was supposed to prevent another World War from happening, but some countries were just too butthurt about their defeats that the communist countries had to go and fuck it all up! They couldn't just play nice, could they?" 

Steve had to laugh. He had no idea what Bucky was talking about. From what he could gather, he had to have been a history major, given with how much detail he was able describe bits and pieces of events from both World Wars. Was it all accurate? It was well after midnight and for what it was worth, he was going to take his word for it. 

"I'm sorry to laugh," Steve apologized, coming around from the counter, "but you have been the highlight of my night so far. And I mean that in a good way. But I am still worried about your lack of sleep."

"I just want to do well on this final," Bucky sighed. "My professor has been kind of a dick about how hard this final is supposed to be and everyone else is scared out of their wits about how hard its going to be." 

"Well, you seem to know what you're talking about when it comes to European history and it's involvement from the World Wars. At least, with the little snippet you gave me." 

Bucky smirked. 

"Don't stress yourself out so much, for the brain needs to rest too," Steve held out the bucket, handing it back to Bucky, "so, what time is your exam at?" 

"Two in the afternoon," Bucky replied with a yawn. 

"I'll tell you what, I'm here for another two hours and then I have to get my roommate from the library afterwards, but why don't you take a nap here in one of those booths? If my manager gives you a hard time, I'll just tell him I let you have some of that bucket coffee and you crashed from all that caffeine. I'll drive you home after we pick up my roommate from the library. Does that sound like a plan?" 

Bucky nodded as Steve went into the back of the room to find something for Bucky to rest his head on. He didn't find much but came back with an oversized hoodie and an old cushion that could be used for a makeshift blanket and pillow. Steve apologized for not having anything proper for him to keep him warm but Bucky was grateful nonetheless. The booth was long enough for Bucky to stretch his body out while he took his nap. 

As Steve was setting up the bed, Bucky asked. "Why are you being so nice to me? You barely even know me." 

"Out of all the customers that come into this coffee shop, you interest me the most. I don't know what it is, but I could never seem to figure you out. I don't know if I've got it yet, but you have surprised more than I could've imagined." 

"Is it a good surprise or a bad surprise?" 

Steve smiled. "It's definitely a good surprise so far."


End file.
